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General: Everyone is Going F2P
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In The Free Zone today, MMORPG.com's Richard Aihoshi spends some time chatting with a pair of industry veterans about the free to play movement that is sweeping the MMO genre. Richard talks with Matthew Denomme from Game Bridger Entertainment and Fernando Blanco from Spacetime Studios about the trend. Read on and then let us know whether or not you agree with their assessment of the industry in the comments.
Although Dungeons & Dragons Online wasn't the first MMOG to change its business model from subscription to free to play, when Turbine made said move just over two years ago, it did turn out to be the start of a trend. Since then, a number of other prominent, visible titles have followed suit. And of course, the list continues to expand. DCUO will be added before long, and it surely won't be the last.
Read more of Richard Aihoshi's The Free Zone: Everyone is Going F2P.
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Comments
It seems that companies are finding profitable models for F2P and in some ways it is a shame this is happening now instead of five or seven years ago. Great (IMO) games like Earth & Beyond or Auto Assault may have been viable as F2P in some way, shape, or form. Although I suppose I am one of maybe ten people who miss E&B.
Just My 2 Lunars
You would be surprised at the number of people who have fond memories of E&B. it was a great game in its time.
As for F2P, this is an awesome model that I hope will overturn the archaic P2P model. In any other venue of media and entertainment the companies who allow their players to choose their investment options seem to be the ones that prosper. Look at cable as an example. If you only offer one plan you will not have many customers. If you offer a sports plan, a pay per veiw plan, a basic plan, a free plan, and an everything plan you hit all of your customers needs and prices. F2P is here to stay and will make gaming a more enjoyable experience.
"Now that high-quality, big-budget multiplayer games are going free to play, I think the negative stigma that once surrounded free to play games will soon (finally) be dispelled. Players will realize that a business model is just that, and does not speak directly to the quality of a game."
What a line of BS. Give us a good quality P2P game and this FTP cancer will go away.
Give me a payment model like LoL with the quality of a AAA title (Rift, EQ2, WoW) and i'll leave the P2p games alone forever.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
They should change their title to F2PMMO.com
This whole weekly "F2P is better" articles thing is getting old.
Yeah, I agree. I'd love to play all those games again, especially E&B. Also, add Tabula Rasa to that list (screw you NCSoft) as a game that probably would have done well in a F2P format. A shame they'll never be resurrected as such.
I love it.
So F2P is the future ? Than it will be an MMO future without me. Not that it really matters, but anyway.
First, we should drop that F in F2P. F2P games are NOT free. A better acronym would probably be MP2P, micro pay to play. But even that is misleading as it suggests that you pay less in a MP2P game compared to an P2P game. Which is not always the case and depends on many factors. I just have to repeat myself here, they are not free. Don't fall for that trap as a customer.
Beside that, the F2P/P2P theme has been beaten harder than a dead horse. It's pro and cons are well known. Everyone must decide for himself which pay method he prefers.
The main reason why I don't like games where those with the will to pay unlimited amounts of money in a game have any advantage (may it be pay to win or just vanity items). For me in a game everyone should have the same chances. But I am old school. Maybe gaming changed overall....
Unfortunately MP2P will probaly the only pay method which will exist in the near future and imo the reason is it is the business model with highest profit for the companies... more or less they can sell virtual shit for real money... people will buy it. ANd they will buy it because it doesn't cost them 15$ once but 50cents her, 1$ there, 5 $there...
/rant off
"I also wish more games I subscribe to offered micro-transactions on some level."
I hear that. I wish some games that offered micro-transactions would let me subscribe to them to!
And wow, all ten people who loved Earth & Beyond are posting today
I miss getting close to the station and hearing the radio shows come into focus.
I disagree that F2P is a better option in general; a steady revenue stream is fine for a AAA title and the fact that F2P models are not always "free" to play. They are in fact micro-transaction models, so the wording is a bit deceiving. Some games are truly free and I assume make their money through advertising models? Guild Wars was entirely free of monthly subscription and micro-transactions, correct? You just paid for the main game and subsequent expansions?
What I think the benefit of alternate payment methods does is allow developers to key their content tot he payment system. A fantasy MMO might have a hard time selling advertising that blends with the content but a modern or sci-fi one could easily sell parts of the scenery to companies. This flexibility for me as a player is great as I can play my big by the month title (or pay premium for a F2P game) and also have some micro-transaction or true F2P games on the side. Where before, you were staring down $30 a month to play two games, one of which did not get as much attention as the other.
I do not think F2P is a fad that is going to fade anytime soon unless another cash flow model comes along.
Just My 2 Lunars
everyone is going F2P this post is a lie. i'm someone and i still prefer P2P as so few others on here i noticed.
I don't care about a game being F2P as long as there is a subscription-based option available so I don't have to worry about it. F2P just means more players in the long run, but I'd rather not have to worry about what I can and cannot do without first visiting a cash shop.
Unlike in Asia, F2P is not what most western companies aimed for as their primary payment model. It's a desperate, last gasp result to keep their subquality product from floating belly up because of people rightfully leaving it in droves.
Stop trying to preach as if it is a victory over the B2P model, which on the western market it isn't. F2p here is a whole different thing than F2P in asia.
Also, give the folks the worthwhile AAA title they crave for for years and an the company behind it won't have to even think a split second about not chosing B2P.
exactly this, lets face it the only game that went F2p that probably didn't have to is LOTRO and maybe COH(although it has been a while since i check their population) most of the other games are going F2P because they HAVE to not because they wanted to. their choice was either go F2P or cancel the game.
The F2P bubble is going to burst in the Western market and then people are going to play the best game and not the sucky ones.
F2P is working because every single game coming out it the same exact gameplay clone as every other MMO with a different flavor.
As soon as a great game that breaks the mold comes along people are going to drop the crappy F2P games and pay for a quality game.
Unfortunately, a company needs to have the guts to make it and publish it.. and, from a business standpoint, those who don't understand the state of the genre won't take the financial risk when a subpar pile of trash can make a profit instead.
First, I loved E&B as well as Auto Assault, I miss them both, but I did stop playing both before they folded because I didn't want to spend the money past the free month. F2P with those would have been awesome, still would.
As far as anyone not liking the new western version of F2P like AoC is using, I dont get that. AoC's sub model allows for the game to play the same as before they went Unchained, but now allows for anyone to play free for a large part of the game, adding alot more players to the game world thus making it better for the paying players as well. I played AoC just before the switch and right through it, The switch to F2P did great for it. It will also help DCUO and Fallen Earth.
Not sure why anyone would not like this model, If the game plays like a western P2P game for all intents and purposes, but you have the option to let you sub expire and still play... how is that bad?
*This has been my opinion and is therefore complete and correct, you may now agree*
www.90and9.net
www.prophecymma.com
The only "good" and "high quality" MMOs that are shifting their payment models aren't even going F2P, they're adopting freemium models that are very restrictive to non-paying players and behave more like extended trials more than anything else.
The MMOs that are shifting completely to a F2P model, were never good nor high quality to begin with.
if game is on it's last leg then yeah i support F2P. but if it's doing well like say WoW or other top MMO's then i think they are best staying P2P.
Paying more for less seems rather stupid to me. Apparently I'm in the minority though.
It was enough to have to pay for the box and maintain a subscription for a video game. Being nickel and dimed for fluff, actual content and even more, clearly exposes the intelligence and willingness to settle for "whatever" of today's gamer.
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
It depends.
I log into a mmo maybe two times a week.
It takes me six months to hit mid level.
If you played as much as I do what would you rather do? Gain access for free and maybe spend 10 bucks unlocking a leveling zone or pay 60 bucks + 6 months sub to a game that you hardly play?
TO the casual gamer, f2p micro transactions are much more beneficial. However if you are a hardcore gamer buying out of a shop exclusively is moronic.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
Personally I dont care about any payment model in general. If I like the game I'll play it. If i like the pricing in a cash shop store then (maybe) Ill use it. Anyway you look at it, you and your wallet decide what is best for you. I dont judge games based of thier cash shops.
***Dances with Kate Beckinsale***
All my opinions are just that..opinions. If you like my opinions..coolness.If you dont like my opinion....I really dont care.
Playing: ESO, WOT, Smite, and Marvel Heroes
The only two MMOs I'm interested in playing, Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World, are not releasing as Free to Play. GW2 is Buy to Pay, and TSW will release with a monthly sub. Those are the last two MMOs I'm going to bother spending money on, and if they both bomb, I'm done paying for MMOs for good, and probably done playing them entirely.
Although it's nice so many are going free to play, so I can get in, get bored in less than a month, and get back out again without wasting my money or too much of my time. The hamsters have seen the wheel behind the pixels, and we no longer deem it worth paying to run on.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
~Albert Einstein
This guy must be more passionate about f2p than Jesus was about dying for humanity.